A Cold World
by Instinct Uncaged
Summary: When the Doctor arrives on a strange new world where the people are at war with one another he is caught in the midst of everything and must help a new companion to save her people.
1. Chapter 1

**Doctor Who Fan-fiction**

 **The Cold World**

The pounding of many booted feet mad the ground tremble from inside of the dull grey building where Susan was crouched low into a ball. Her eyes were shut tightly but she knew that they were coming for her, they were coming for her! She was shivering as she back into her corner, arms over her head in protection, hands covering her ears as she tried to block out the sound of people screaming and the boots from outside.

A strong pair of hands gripped her by the shoulders, the little girl cried out in fear. "Ssssshhhh", a gentle soothing male voice said to her. The little girl slowly opened her eyes and looked up. The grizzled dirt-smeared face of her father looked down, his face with had the lines of age across it but he smiled kindly down at her, "there's my girl" he said, pulling her into a close hug. It felt warm and safe, Susan never wanted to leave that hug, she clung on tightly to her father. But then it was over and he parted slowly looking down into her deep blue eyes with his own stormy grey ones. "Listen baby girl, daddy has to go away for a little bit and look after some people. But don't worry I've sent someone to come find you while I'm away okay?"

"Daddy I don't want you to go!" Susan cried trying to hold onto her dad a little tighter as she tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I have to Susie, they're counting on me" her dad said kissing her gently on the forehead, "don't worry" he added as they parted, gripping her shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes, "I'll see you soon".

With that Susan's father stood up, tall and broad shouldered. He turned and ran out of the room. Susan stayed in her corner and went back into her foetal position, her arms over her head. Her dad was gone, he'd left her! She was scared, angry, confused and didn't know why all of this had to happen to her. She hadn't done anything wrong. Gunshots echoed outside of the room and Susan flinched, trembling in her corner.

She wanted to run out and see her father, she wanted to call out for him, to get him to come back and tell her that it was all going to be alright. That nothing was going to hurt her and they would all be safe, but her father had told her to stay quiet. Someone would come and find her, daddy had said so, daddy always kept his promises.

More gunshots sounded, closer than ever this time, loud footsteps accompanied them. The footsteps were different this time though, they sounded strange, as if they were covered in metal, armored in some way. Susan had overheard daddy talking with other men about how the army were using these new battle suits. More screaming came from outside the room and Susan jumped, she turned away from the door, trying to get as far into the corner as she could, as if she could actually become part of the wall.

 _Why can't they just stop?_ Susan thought as tears streamed down her cheeks, she tried to keep her sobs quiet but she couldn't keep them from coming. "I just want to go home" she whispered, her small voice trembling with every word, "I just want daddy, I just want to be safe!"

Then a new noise sounded, a strange noise. It was like nothing she had ever heard before, it was a strange wheezy, grinding sound. She turned quickly round to face whatever it was that was coming.

Something….something was materializing, slowly becoming more and more present with every second. It was big…and blue. It had the words "Police Box" scrolled onto the top of it. It was a big blue box. _It was a police man! Daddy sent a police man to keep me safe!_ She frowned for a moment, daddy had said that she was meant to avoid the police men. But Daddy said that he had sent someone, so maybe the police man in the box would be able to help her.

Wiping the tears from her eyes she slowly got to her feet. Taking a deep breath she cautiously stepped over to the door of the big blue box, it was so tall compared to her. She reached out a small dirty hand and knocked on the door. "Mr Policeman can you help me?" she asked in her small voice.

There was no answer, the little girl raised her hand to knock again but all of a sudden the door was flung open. A man with an old craggy face stuck his head out of the door, "no" he said sharply looking out the door. He stopped for a moment looking down at the little girl, there was a short pause between the two of them before the man said, "oh no, definitely not" and abruptly shut the door again.

"Mr Policeman please!" the little girl shouted urgently banging on the door desperately with her tiny fists.

The door opened quickly again and the old man appeared once more, "I'm not a Policeman" he said quickly, "and I don't do children". Gunshots sounded outside of the room and the man peered out of the blue box, towards the door of the room curiously, "in this case I might be willing to make an exception though" he added thoughtfully, stepping out of the box and locking it before going to the door.

He went over to the door and peered outside of the room, "I'm not your babysitter though" he whispered as he looked around the frames of the door.

Susan nodded as she followed and stood next to him, "I don't need a babysitter, I'm five now".

"Yes" the old man remarked sarcastically, "you pudding brains grow up so fast". He stared around the hallway, the loud metallic footsteps were disappearing now as was the shouting.

"What's your name?" Susan asked as the man stepped out into the hallway.

"I'm the Doctor" he replied as he glanced around before going back into the room over the window. Outside there were soldiers leading people away, large mechanical suits were walking alongside though the suits looked slow, bulky and cumbersome. The Doctor's brows knitted together, then he turned quickly towards the girl, "where's your parents?" he asked.

"Um mummy died a long time ago" Susan said looking sadly towards the ground, "Daddy told me to wait here and that he had someone sent on the way here".

"Susan?" came a female voice from the door. Both Susan and the doctor whirled about. They was a woman standing in the door, she was wearing dirty grey trousers, a grey top and some kind of brown leather waistcoat unbuttoned. He dark brown hair went down to her shoulders and she held a gun, aimed straight for the Doctor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Susan?" the woman said in shock aiming the gun at the Doctor, her gaze shifted nervously between the Doctor, Susan and the big blue box in the room.

"Auntie Jackie!" Susan exclaimed in relief, running over to the woman, who rubbed her head affectionately. It felt good, reassuring, it was exactly what she needed.

"Who are you?" Jackie asked, giving the Doctor hard stare.

"Hello I'm the Doctor" he replied quickly before adding, "her not baby-sitter".

"Well I know that because I'm the sitter" Jackie replied sternly.

"He's a policeman," Susan said pulling on Jackie's waistcoat. The woman looked down, caught off guard for a moment before looking back at the Doctor and pulling the safety off on the gun.

"You don't look like a policeman," Jackie said suspiciously, running her eyes over him.

"Maybe I'm just not that kind of policeman," the Doctor said meeting her gaze, "by the sounds of things you had a breaking and entering here".

Jackie chuckled sourly to herself, "it was the policemen who broke in," she said bitterly. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at this but before he could speak Jackie went on, "you don't know what's going on do you?"

"I like to think of myself as a selective shut in" the Doctor said, "makes it easier for me to choose when I want to come out and play".

"This isn't a game!" Jackie yelled, Susan jumped a little at the loud noise. "We need to go right now, come one Susie". The Doctor went to get back into the tardis but the woman didn't put the gun down, "you're coming with us, a policeman might be of use".

"Well you can start by lowering that gun" the Doctor said, "I'm usually much more cooperative without them" he added, an edge to his voice. The woman didn't budge, "look you clearly need me, judging by the state you're in you need all the help you can get but that" he pointed to the gun, "is not the way to get it".

Jackie looked like she was going to retort but then simply muttered, "I have to check you for weapons".

"By all means" the Doctor said stretching out his arms. Jackie went and began searching, and then she pulled out his screwdriver.

"What the hell is this?" she snarled at him putting the gun straight to his head. No regeneration if she pulled the trigger there.

"It's a screwdriver," the Doctor said.

"I've never seen any screwdriver like this before in my life" Jackie said through gritted teeth as she kept the gun placed against the Doctor's head.

"Yes well as you've probably guessed, I'm not from around here" the Doctor managed in a totally calm voice. There was a tense moment between them when neither of them said anything, then slowly, the woman lowered the gun.

"If you try anything, I will kill you," Jackie said quietly so that Susan couldn't hear her.

"You'll have to get to the back of a very long line," the Doctor said wryly.

"And I'm keeping your screwdriver for now" snapped Jackie, "c'mon".

"Needy baby, greedy baby" remarked the Doctor in a low voice behind her as he followed. They walked down through the levels of the building, all fourteen of them. They couldn't risk attracting the attention of anyone so they had to take the long way. "Surely you're not going to make me wait till we get to wherever we're going to tell me what's been happening are you?"

"We're not very far now" Jackie replied keeping Susan's hand in her free one.

"So you are going to" the Doctor sighed, "you know suspense is overrated. I'm much more of a comedy person, nobody dies in a comedy".

"You have no idea what we've lost," Jackie said grimly as they went into the basement.

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks, "I know, I know what it's like to lose people".

"Who have you lost? You don't look like…ah here we go" she had been feeling around the brickwork for a loose block, which she pressed in. The wall suddenly slid open and she proceeded inside, the Doctor and Susan followed. Inside of the room was a single table with a big map, it looked like the plans of a building, a factory of some kind maybe, and more plans were pinned up all around the room.

"You're late" came a male voice, three more people stepped out of the shadows around the table. The first was a tall man with a blonde beard and spiked up hair, the second figure wore dark mesh mask over their face so that it was completely covered, he looked powerfully built and had his arms folded. The last one was a colored woman with jet-black hair in a ponytail that went down her back.

"Had to run an errand" Jackie said, putting Susan down into a seat, "is this it?" she asked worriedly.

The blonde male nodded, "for now anyway, everyone else is in hiding. We're on our own," he said darkly.

"Who's he?" the colored girl asked, gesturing to the Doctor.

"The not-sitter but I prefer the Doctor thanks," the Doctor said sarcastically.

"Help, I think" Jackie said nervously, looking over to him.

Susan simply sat in the chair looking at all the posters. "Well this is a fine group but you should do what barber shop quartettes always do" the Doctor said sarcastically. They all looked at him with completely uncomprehending expressions, "just tell me what's going on here".

"Don't you know" the blonde man said. The Doctor raised an eyebrow as if to say, "would I be asking if I did". "It all started a year or two ago" the blonde man started, "there was this new drug that came out, it was said to reduce stress so they introduced it to the CEO's of companies, politicians. Then they introduced it to law enforcement, said it would help officers. What it actually does is target synapses throughout certain parts of the hemisphere of the brain".

"It cuts off people's emotions," the colored woman said, cutting across. "So then the people were split into two groups, those who were taking it and those who weren't. Then they starting hunting down people who weren't taking it…we never see those people again. It started with public executions, they wanted it known, but now they just take people and we…we never see them again".

The man with the mask put a hand on the woman's shoulder and she nodded to him. "You're very quiet there Zorro?" the Doctor asked the man in the mask.

"He doesn't talk" the blonde man said, "his name is Zek. I'm Kyle and this is Zo" he gestured to the other woman, "you've already met Jackie and Susan. Her dad's a big player here on our side".

"So who have you all lost?" the Doctor asked. Nobody answered at first, "you wouldn't be the four most committed people in your cause if you hadn't lost something".

"You have no idea what we've lost" snarled Kyle, his tone was suddenly angry.

"I'm guessing I've struck a nerve," the Doctor said cautiously. "You think that you're all doing the right thing here, taking the fight to them. What were you planning? Sabotage? A bomb?" They all looked at each other, "okay so it was a bomb" the Doctor said, "and what would happen to all of the people killed by this bomb?"

"Wars have casualties," the blonde man said through gritted teeth.

"This is not a war!" exclaimed the Doctor, his expression suddenly darkened now; anger has seeped into his tone. "This would be a slaughter of innocents".

"They've taken everything from us!" Zo said indignantly, "all our family gone!"

"And you think that this is going to bring them back?" the Doctor retorted, "an eye for an eye ay? Don't you know that will make the world blind? Blinded by animosity and hate. Yes this drug has to go but someone has to be able to let go first, be the bigger people."

"But in war-" Kyle started

"Shut up! Shuttity up up up right now" the Doctor was nearly shouting now, "you pudding brains just want to fight all the time. Have you not become more evolved? This is not war because you are not an army, you are a small group against an army and if you do it this way you will die and you will be forgotten. I have been in a war and even in war you get forgotten. I have been in a war were millions died every hour, entire worlds engulfed in the chaos and millions of innocent people that died brushed aside like none of it mattered. But you take the pain from that; you hold it very tight, so tight that you think it might suffocate you! Then you promise yourself that you will never let that pain ever happen to anyone else again". The others looked around nervously, "I have been alive a very long time, travelled to so many different places and in all that time I have never met one person who was not important. Be important for the right reasons! Not the wrong ones".

They all looked around at each other before Jackie spoke, "so what would you have us do?"

"Why Jackie" the Doctor replied, "I'm so glad you asked".


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The tall factorium loomed tall and dark over the town nearby, at least thirty feet above any other building in the area, constructed out of a deep red stone, which was specially imported. "The Crimson" some people simply called it, the hub of all technology, also the home-place of the wealthy and powerful, capable of holding two hundred and fifty people behind it's dark walls. A huge wall encircled the building keeping what happened behind its closed doors a complete mystery from anyone else. A long line of people in ragged, dirty clothing trudged in through the main gate, being escorted by soldiers and men in the clunky mechanical suits,

A long, white spire stretched up from the very top of the building, higher and higher towards the sky, almost disappearing from view among the clouds. At the top of this was a disc-like shape; the sides of it were glass to give a magnificent panoramic view of everything that lay below. This was the Penthouse extraordinaire, own by Mr. François Recompense. He was the man responsible for making the new drug, "Streno" he had named it, though he had insisted that he be in charge of all of it's sales opportunities and that his identity remained a complete secret, known only to him and the board of directors. Of course he would never take the drug, he found that it dulled his senses and he thrived under pressure. Well he thrived in any environment so it wasn't as if it would help him anyway.

Mr. Recompense sat in his the cushy maroon leather chair looked out at the drab cloud ridden sky, then down to the line of people being lead in. His jet black hair had streaks of silver through it, his face was well groomed and he had piercing blue eyes, the intensity behind those eyes often caught people off guard There was a faint hissing sound from behind him as the doors to his high speed elevator opened.

A tall thin man exited the elevator; he too had jet-black hair but had no silver in it. His name was Pensive; he was Recompense's assistant in all matters. He handled matters with the board that often had to be made in person, making public appearances and what not. Recompense could trust this man without a shadow of a doubt. "Good morning sir" he said brightly as he strode across the room and a tablet in his hand, "and how are we today, I see we have a fresh batch of recruits in today".

"Rather sorry forms" Recompense said putting a set of binoculars to his eyes and looking down to them, "their physical form will hardly matter though once the process is complete".

"The security forces are looking for a demonstration of these prototypes" Pensive said putting the data slab down onto the table at which Recompense was sitting, "these should more than provide enough candidates".

"Good" Recompense said turning about in his chair to face the data slab, pressing his thumb print down onto it to give his signature, "Mr. Pensive may I ask a question of a rather personal nature?"

"Sir you sign my cheques as far as I'm concerned you can ask me whatever you want," he said with a grin.

"Why do you not take Streno my friend?" Recompense asked as the data slab beeped with confirmation and he removed his thumb from it.

Pensive didn't answer straight away, but he walked over to the window, looking down at the prisoners being brought in ask the huge steel gates slid down with an audible thud. "I enjoy my job sir," he said after a while, "people like that do not deserve to squander life's opportunity, languishing in the dirt like children. They must be elevated, shown the light, brought forwards into the new age".

"Excellent, I have big plans for you now Pensive and I believe you will have a great impact on our mission here" Recompense said, linking his fingers together, a grin across his face. Then he clicked his fingers and the lift beeped.

Pensive turned round, shocked. "Sir what's going on?" he asked as the high-speed lift began racing through the floors of the factory.

"I have…elevated you. Yes I like that, I have elevated you" Recompense said, still grinning so that his teeth were bared, "you have served me well and you will continue to do as a lieutenant of the new security forces".

"But. But sir?" Pensive stuttered backing away from Recompense and the lift, "am I not better here? Have I not been faithful?"

"Why yes you have" Recompense stood up from his chair, walking slowly around the desk while running his finger along it, "and I noticed that you have been doing some digging. Is it not interesting that the rebels received information that we were herding today, they were ready? We even had to deploy the early prototypes". The elevator beeped to show that it had arrived on the floor, "but we are well past the prototyping stage now". The doors to the elevator slid open and Pensive's eyes widened. Heavy metal footsteps stomped out of the elevator and Recompense grinned even further than before. "Magnificent aren't they?" he whispered to himself.

"You're a monster…." Pensive managed to whisper, "and I would do it all again in a heartbeat after everything you've done".

"Well I'm honored to be called such a thing" Recompense sneered, "but do you know what's the scary thing about monster's these days?" he paused for a short moment, "you can't tell them apart from the regular people".

The tunnel was dark. An eerie green light from bulbs placed at intervals was all that cast a dim light in the corridor, there was a complete darkness at either side. Zek led the way down the tunnel, the doctor, Jackie and Susan were in the middle, Zo and Kyle took the rear with Kyle at the back, each of them bar the Doctor and Susan carried rifles and side arms. Jackie still held onto the Doctor's screwdriver, stowing it in one of her pockets.

"So who is this man on the inside?" the Doctor asked as they walked through the dark. Nobody answered, "come on, none of you could ever get close enough to get a set of plans could you? So who was it? Someone on the inside?"

"We never met him" Zo said from just behind him, "he'd just drop things off to us but we'd never see him. But only the rich live inside of those walls so it must've been one of them".

"Quiet!" hissed Kyle from behind, "these tunnels run directly underneath the factory. If you're any louder we'll get caught".

"People can't hear through concrete" Jackie snapped back at them, "but everyone shut up anyway".

They moved further and further down the tunnel till they reached a ladder, which went up to a hatch. Jackie tried to open up the hatch but it wouldn't budge, "no good" she said through gritted teeth as she tried to move it. She looked down to the Doctor and then back at the hatch, "don't you dare make me regret this" she hissed at him, climbing down the ladder and pulling out the Doctor's screwdriver.

"You know it can do more than open doors" the Doctor said as he ascended the ladder and powered on the screwdriver with its familiar green light and pulsing sound. As soon as he did this pairs of blue lights suddenly powered on in the darkness, the Doctor's eyes widened in horror. "Run!" he called as the familiar clanking metal footsteps sounded, he pushed the hatch open as quickly as he could. Jackie handed Susan up to him.

"Come on!" shouted Zo as she pushed Jackie up the ladder, Zek and Kyle aimed their guns as heavy clanking footsteps sounded. As Zo started to climb the ladders the blue lights moved and massive broad figures stepped out of the darkness, every footstep clanked like metal any time they planted their heavy feet to the ground.

"Go Zek go!" Kyle shouted, pulling the slide back on his rifle. Zek started to climb and Kyle squeezed the trigger firing a volley of bullets but they simply ricocheted off of the body of the figures.

"C'mon Kyle!" Zo cried reaching down into the hole as Kyle backed up to the ladder. Kyle looked as the mass of figures, clanking towards them in the dark and back up to the others before shaking his head.

"Don't forget" he said, closing the hatch, locking the others out.

"No! No!" screamed Zo banging on the hatch as gunfire sounded underneath the hatch then a long scream sounded. She stopped banging then.

"Where's Susan?" exclaimed Jackie, "why didn't you watch her!" she shouted at the Doctor.

"I'm not her baby-sitter" the Doctor hissed, "and lower your voice, it'll do us no good if we get caught". He went down and crouched next to Zo, "we have to go, we still have the mission". Zo didn't say anything, she just stared down at the hatch, and her frame trembled. Zek had gone round the corner and was now coming back, he tapped Jackie on the shoulder and gestured around the corner. "We have to go" the Doctor said one final time before standing and pulling her to her feet.

Zek led the way round the corner, at the end of this corridor there was a strange red glow and sounds of people. The Doctor stopped before the end of the corridor, he knew what was coming. "What's wrong?" Jackie said turning round to face him.

"You might want to brace yourselves…." The Doctor said grimly, "I think we're about to find out what happens to the people who disappear behind the wall". They all stopped dead at this.

"You know what they're doing don't you?' Jackie asked, her voice shook a little.

"I'm not sure…" the Doctor said, "but let's hope I'm wrong", he crept forwards towards the corner and peered around it. People were queued up in single file, around were armed guards, nobody was being let in just yet. A man in a trim suit was being forced to the front of the queue.

"Let me go!" the man screamed, "I don't belong here" but the Doctor wasn't paying attention to the man, he was trying to look beyond, to what was behind the dark red light. The men carrying him injected him with a serum of some kind and the man loosened up completely. Then he freely walked into the dark red light. A horrible long, drawn out scream followed that made the hairs on the back of everyone's neck stand up. The Doctor looked away and slid down the wall onto the floor, it was exactly what he had feared, great metal, clanking footsteps sounded as he slid down the wall.

"Doctor look" Jackie said in a hushed trembling voice, "Doctor what happened? What did they do to him?" she asked as a massive silhouette emerged from the red light. It was broad and completely covered in metal with circles for eyes and a line for a mouth.

"They upgraded him" the Doctor said grimly.

"Upgraded him into what Doctor?"

"Cyberman" the Doctor said, "their converting people into cybermen".


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

There was a huge commotion as the men in metal began pushing people behind towards the dark red light. They screamed and tried to run but the soldiers wielded batons, herding the people towards the cybermen and the dark red light, more and more cybermen also began to come out of the light, striding past the people towards where the front gate was. "We have to help those people!" exclaimed Jackie, "we can't just let this happen to them".

"We have a job to do! We can't sacrifice it, if we don't stop Streno here then it will spread everywhere else" Zo retorted.

"Shut up, shut up" the Doctor said, "you humans see but you don't understand, you only think about what's in front of you now", the other two looked at him puzzled, "cybermen aren't here because of Streno, something brought them here, probably people to recruit an army and they don't occupy. They arrive, assimilate a population and then move on, anything that is not a cyberman is therefore inferior, so you have to be upgraded".

Zo looked like she was about to open up her mouth to retort but a gasp from Jackie stopped her. "Susan!" Jackie cried, there was the little girl, standing in the queue waiting to be converted, "we have to help her!". The little girl wasn't moving she was holding onto someone's hand, Jackie squinted for a moment, trying to see whose hand it was. It was Susan's dad, her brother Mark, "what is he doing? We have to get them out of there!"

"Whatever is in those syringes it's making them very susceptible to suggestion" the doctor murmured, looking round the corner.

Jackie was meanwhile charging forwards but Zo blocked her path. "Get out of my way!" she snapped at Zo, trying to push her aside aggressively but the other woman refused to budge, "I am not going to let those things turn her!"

"No you'll blow this whole mission if they see us then we're done for!" Zo hissed back, "we need to think of the big picture! Do like the Doctor and stay…", she turned to look for the Doctor but he was gone. The two women peered around the corner as they heard a voice.

"Me next! Me next!" cried the Doctor as he pushed through the queue of people to get to the front.

The cyberman at the front of the queue turned to face the Doctor, staring down at him with empty eyes, "human you are not affected by the subjugation" it said in a cold metallic voice devoid of any emotion, "you will be given another dose".

"So what exactly is in the subjugation jabs? I'm going to guess that it's not a flu shot" the Doctor said raising an eyebrow as a guard walked forwards carrying a syringe, "is it to do with streno?". The soldier stopped and looked up at the cyberman, "so it is" the Doctor muttered to himself, "a concentrated form injected directly into the blood-stream. Why though…"

"The human will be subjugated" the Cyberman said pointing to the Doctor.

"No you see I don't think I will" the Doctor said, stepping back and pulling out his sonic screwdriver. Jackie felt around in her pockets and noticed that it was missing, frowning she watched on.

"He is armed" the cyberman said, raising its arm, ready to attack.

"What this?" the Doctor said, gesturing to the screwdriver, "oh no this is a screwdriver. It's a tool not a weapon, but I digress. You're not going to subjugate me because I'm not a human" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small capsule, "I'm the Doctor, look me up". He held his screwdriver to the bottom of the capsule and the device whirred, "you'll find that I can make great use of tools," he said before throwing the capsule to the ground. A huge blue shockwave exploded outward from the capsule, causing the hair on the back of the Doctor's neck to stand on end. The wave passed through all of the people without harm but as soon as it touched a cyberman they would be shocked by it, jolting around violently as their systems were overloaded.

"Run!" the Doctor said grabbing Susan's arm and pulling the little girl away from the queue, back to where the others were. The other people had notice the damaged nature of some of their captors and were now also trying to get away from the queue, pushing past one another, trying to get away towards the main gate so that they might have a chance of escape.

"What the hell was that?" exclaimed Zo as she Zek and Jackie ran alongside the Doctor.

"Took one of your charge and converted it into an electromagnetic pulse" the Doctor explained as they rounded another corner and he stopped; "now where is the person running the show?"

"No one knows his name" Jackie said quickly, glancing to Zek who held his rifle at the ready, all we know is he lives at the top of the tall spire at the center of the factory.

"How do I get there?" the Doctor asked

"Look for silver arrows along the floor, they'll be small" Zo added, "so keep an eye out for them. They'll bring you to the lift at the bottom and then you can get it up to the top. But it's got an encoder and it's probably guarded how will you get there?"

"You leave that to me, give the charges here" the Doctor replied holding out his arm.

"No we need these to finish the mission" Zo said aggressively, Zek simply turned his head towards the Doctor and cocked his head to the side.

"I will finish the mission, those cybermen are all linked to a central mainframe, if it can be destroyed then we can destroy all of them at once" the Doctor explained. There was a short pause between them all, and then Zek handed over his charges. "Thank you" the Doctor said. Zo threw Zek a look but he ignored her, "you should all go out, those people will need you, people brave enough to stand up to their monsters". They all looked at the Doctor, then Susan came in and hugged him, "I'm….I'm not much of hugger" the Doctor said, sheepishly looking down at her and patting her on the head.

"That's okay I'll do it enough for us both" Susan said, squeezing tightly before coming away from him.

Zek reached out a hand and the Doctor shook it, the exchange between them was wordless. Zo didn't acknowledge him but Jackie went over to him and held out her hand, "thank you".

"I haven't done anything yet" the Doctor replied.

"Yeah but thank you" she repeated, "for this chance". They shook hands and then stepped back, "silver arrows" she said, "we won't forget you Doctor".

"I won't give you a reason to," the Doctor said as he turned and ran down the corridor with the two saches of charges over each shoulder.

"Do you think he'll manage it?" Zo said, a slight edge to her voice.

"We have to believe he will" Jackie said, "what else do we have?". With that they turned and ran for the entrance of the building, it was quiet, no one was around.

"Where is everyone?" Susan asked

"I don't know" Jackie replied back to her but as soon as they got out of the factory they could see exactly why.

There was a massive group of people in the courtyard; there must have been at least hundreds of them packed almost to the doors of the factory. As they pushed through the throng of people they could see why the people were all firmly rooted to the spots. At the main gate were several rows of cybermen, completely blocking the gate so that none would be able to pass. "You will go back inside for upgrading" one of the cybermen said, "you will obey or be deleted".

"Go to hell!" a voice bellowed back from the people. Jackie looked around, as did others for the source of the noise, it was Zek! The usually silent man was striding forwards towards the cybermen, "you can't stop all of us and we won't let you take away the things that make us who we are!"

"Proceed as indicated or be.." the Cyberman started but there was a crack from a sniper and a hole was blown clean through the cyberman's head. Zek had fired his massive fifty-caliber rifle at the metal man and his shot had penetrated through the eye socket. The other cybermen looked expressionlessly as their comrade fell the ground with a metal clanking sound. "You have chosen deletion" another Cyberman said, stepping in place of the fallen one, "advance". The cybermen began to march forwards, the heavy metal of their footfalls in perfect unison with one another, their hands outstretched, ready to grab anyone who came within reach.

"Are we gonna let them do this to us!" called out Zek, "take everything from us! Turn us into machines?" there were scattered murmurings through the crowd of people. The cybermen drew nearer, "these are the monsters from our nightmares and we have to face them. If people tell our story years from now, how would you see your story told?". He turned and fired his rifle at the cybermen, "only you can decide!". There was a roar from the crowd of people and they surged forwards like a tidal wave, not all of them were unarmed, some had tools like laser saws or pipes and other things. The two sides drew closer and closer, gunfire barked among the war cries until the sides finally collided.

The elevator glided smoothly up the spire towards the top with the Doctor onboard, at the bottom of it lay two cybermen with shorted out circuits. The elevator was clean inside, completely white with no windows; it whooshed gently as it climbed higher and higher into the sky. The Doctor held his screwdriver against the charges, converting them to electromagnetic pulse charges.

The elevator gradually slowed to a halt as the doctor finished his work and the doors hissed as they slid open. A man sat in a cushy, maroon leather chair; his hair had streaks of silver going through it. "I was wondering when I might be getting a visit from the likes of you," the man said, seeming completely unphased by the fact that a complete stranger had just entered.

"And just, who exactly do you think I am?" the Doctor asked as he stepped from the lift and started to walk towards the man at the desk.

The man turned, "the resistance of course" he had a smug grin upon his face as he eyed up the Doctor, "though I must say you're dressed rather…differently from what I expected" he looked at the Doctor's attire.

"Yes, well my normal clothes were in the wash so I had to make do" the Doctor said standing at the front of the desk.

"Well I can't have you simply standing there," the man in the chair said, grinning still, "I should offer you a place to sit". Suddenly he drew out a small gun and pulled the trigger, the gun fired a small burst of electricity which coursed through the Doctor, making him cry out in pain, jolting and shuddering before falling to the floor, almost completely immobile. "That's better" the man said, unable to keep the satisfaction out of his voice, "now we can begin, I'm Mr. Francois Recompense, and you would be?"

"Finding your floor very uncomfortable at the moment" the Doctor said grimacing with pain as he tried to move. "I'm the Doctor," he said after a pause when it was clear Recompense wasn't going to answer him.

"What exactly are you a doctor of?" Recompense asked, planting his foot on the Doctor's back and kicking the saches full of charges off to the side.

"Oh just bits and pieces" the Doctor said, he received a sharp kick in the ribs for his cheek that time. "How did you come up with the idea for the cybermen?" he asked, trying to look up at Recompense.

"How do you know them by that name?" Recompense asked, frowning a little, "I haven't even released them yet to the public".

"Yet clearly you've unleashed them on the public haven't you" the Doctor pointed out, nodding to the window. "You didn't come up with the original idea for them did you? Something gave you the idea? What was it?"

The kick came again, accompanied swiftly by another, "I created them, they were always mine!" snarled Recompense.

"Just like Streno? That was yours too wasn't it?" the Doctor managed through gritted teeth. There was no reply, the foot simply pressed harder into his back, pinning him to the floor, not that he could move anyway. "Is the idea behind Streno not to inhibit emotions?" he said going on, finally able to look up at Recompense, "you're doing the cybermen's work for them you know, that's what they want. People with no…".

A sharp stamp into the Doctor's back quickly silenced him, "I am the one controlling them, and they do not control me!". The door to the lift slid open and a cyberman stepped out, it had a black head with a black stripe going down its silver body. "Not now!" Recompense snarled as he stamped again on the Doctor's back as the doors to the lift closed and went down.

"It is time sir," the cyberman echoed in a metallic voice, staring blankly towards Recompense.

"Can't you see that it is well past the time! We are well under-way" Recompense said angrily, "I mean look", he gestured down to the chaos below.

"No" the cyberman replied, "it is time for you to be upgraded".

Recompense frowned, completely caught off guard by this, "I am not to be upgraded, I am the controller damnit!". The cyberman started walking forwards Recompense, hands outstretched, "stay back! I order you to halt!" the lift slid open and another two cybermen stepped out into the room, following behind the first. Recompense took his foot off of the Doctor and began to back away towards the window of the penthouse, the cybermen kept advancing, and they ignored the Doctor. He was starting to get some feeling back, he could flex his fingers and shift his body position a little. "Get…get back now!" Recompense said firing his electricity gun, the bolt hit one of the back two cybermen and it fell to the ground, limp. "Stop!" the cyberman reached for him, but Recompense pressed against the window and the glass shattered. The cyberman nearest him grabbed hold of the cuff of the man's suit jacket, holding him in the air over an almost certain drop to his death.

"Recompense!" the Doctor shouted, as he picked up the sache of charges that he had crawled over, "where's the cyber-mainframe?"

Recompense looked like he was about to answer the Doctor when the cyberman with the black stripe spoke, "do not worry, we will elevate you".

Recompense stopped and looked at the cyberman for a moment, completely awestruck, "Pensive…." He gasped. But the cyberman let go of his cuff, the man cried out as he fell, screaming all the way to his death.

"What happened to elevating him?" the Doctor shouted

"That was designated, a lie" the cyberman said.

"So…" the Doctor said, as the two cybermen turned towards him, "do either of you want to tell me where the mainframe is?"

"You have not been subjugated all cyber units are authorized to terminate non-subjugated models" the cybermen said in unison.

The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and held it to the charges, they hummed gently for a moment before the noise grew louder and they glowed an intense blue. They vibrated gently into the Doctor's shoulder and both of the cybermen stopped. "Ah good" the Doctor said, a grin creeping onto his face, "that means that the mainframe is very close. Now we'll all just play a game of statues until I figure out where it is". The cybermen looked at one another without a word and back to the Doctor with their empty eyes. "Now it would need a power supply and that would be difficult to conceal" the Doctor muttered as he strode around the room, "there's nothing in this room with that…that kind of…." He turned and looked at the cybermen. "It's you," he said looking to the Doctor, "oh that is very good! The only thing with enough processing power in this room to handle that kind of capacity is you! You with your metal bodies but human brains, the only thing capable of utilizing those millions of connections using bio-mechanics to run the mainframe through a cyber suit, now that is very good!". The cybermen said nothing but simply stood there, "I'm going to guess that it's you" the Doctor said pointing to the one with the black stripe and helmet.

At that point the one with the black helmet and stripe began walking towards the window that Recompense had smashed through, the other kept walking towards the Doctor. "Not so fast!" he said, striding forwards throwing a charge at the cyberman's feet, which went off and completely immobilized it. Meanwhile the one with the black helmet was already at the window, fire erupted from its hands and feet as it slowly rose into the air. The Doctor broke into a run, chasing after it and jumping towards it, in his flight both saches of armed charges fell off and down into the chaos on the ground. As soon as they hit the ground they exploded sending a massive pulse throughout the courtyard, the pulse knocked out every cyberman in the courtyard and washed over the factory. But high in the sky, the Doctor clutched on desperately to the cyberman, which was now flying above the ground at a phenomenal speed. The wind whipped at the Doctor's hair and coat, his arms where wrapped tightly around the cyberman, his screwdriver in his hand.

The cyberman banked, rolled and dove, trying to shake to Doctor from its body but he clung on tightly. He grimaced with the effort of it, "running won't help you!" he shouted over the roar of the wind and thrusters, "trust me I know!". The cyberman ignored him and kept on flying, the Doctor then pointed his screwdriver towards the thruster on the cyberman's foot, "you know I'll probably kill us both doing this!" he shouted.

"You will not self-delete" the cyberman said with the dull metallic voice, "you are not capable of it".

"You have no idea what I'm capable of!" the Doctor cried, activating the screwdriver. The cyberman's thruster worked fine for a moment, but then it sputtered and slowly cut out before coughing and going out completely. This sent the cyberman into complete body rolls; wild and uncontrolled the two of them soared down closer and closer to the ground. The Doctor couldn't hold on any longer, when they got close enough to the ground he let a fell from the cyberman, rolling across the ground, rocks and the rough ground scratched him as he slowly came to a halt. The cyberman crashed to the ground with a noise like thunder, it's body came apart with the force of the impact.

The Doctor gingerly got to his feet, grimacing with the pain of it, blood trickled down the side of his head and he was certain he'd broken a bone in his right arm. He held his screwdriver tightly though, his knuckles had turned white holding onto the little device. He reached the crater where the cyberman had crashed and slid down into the middle of it. There on the ground was the cybermen, it had no legs now and only one arm, which only went down to the elbow.

The cyberman reached its arm towards him, "help me" it said in its cold, dull voice, "I can't move, I am so cold".

"You're a cyberman you can't feel anything," the Doctor said looking down at it, he noticed that it's chest panel was partially caved in. "Oh you never were part of the subjugation, you were too important with the mainframe in you. They had to inhibit you with a chip, otherwise it would interfere with the processor".

"I….I just wanted to help people…" the cyberman said, its arm falling down by it's side.

"I know, I'm sorry," the Doctor said somberly, crouching down next to the metal shell, "I'm so sorry. What was your name before this?"

"Pen….sive" the cyberman replied, "I just want to sleep now".

"You do that Pensive" the Doctor said grimly, pulling out his screwdriver and putting it to the cyberman's chest, "just go to sleep" he turned on the screwdriver and the cyberman went limp. The Doctor sighed and stood up, it was never easy to do something like that, to simply end a life even if it was a kindness. Cutting short everything that had happened in the past and silencing everything that could have been in the future.

He began walking back to the towering structure of the Crimson; people were spilling out of the front gate. Some people were crying tears of joy, some simply wept, others seemed totally numb to everything caught in a complete daze. He didn't mingle amongst them but stood off to the side, looking through the crowd.

"Doctor!" came a high-pitched shout from within the crowd. The Doctor watched as Susan sprinted out of the crowd up to him and wrapped her arms around him.

The Doctor exhaled sharply as she collided with him, "still not a hugger" he managed as he saw Jackie, and Zek emerge from the crowd of people and walk towards him along with another man, whom he recognized as Susan's father from the queue. The little girl simply ignored him; he patted her awkwardly on the back. She gave him a tight squeeze before she finally came away from him.

"I don't know what you did but thank you," Zek said, holding out his hand to the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled, "oh he talks now", he took Zek's hand and shook it firmly, "you don't need to thank me. What happened to the other one…? The other woman, Zo?" The others all looked away sadly, "oh" the Doctor murmured.

"We will remember her" Susan's father said, "thank you for looking after my little girl, you made an all right baby-sitter".

"I'm not the sitter," the Doctor said with a slightly exasperated edge to his voice.

"We know" Jackie said chuckling a little, putting a hand on his shoulder, "thank you though. Thank you for this" she gestured to the people coming out of the Crimson, "we owe the fact that we have this chance to you".

"Just make it count," the Doctor said nodding as the others murmured in agreement.

"The whole time that this was going on" Zek said, cocking his head to the side, "you looked completely in control, as if none of it was new to you. Is this like normal for you?"

"There no such thing as normal in my world" the Doctor said, "and speaking of which I should probably be going".

"We could really use someone like you around here" Jackie said, "someone with a clear head and your brains".

"No no, you are all perfectly capable" the Doctor said, "if you lead them and keep your heads level, stay away from Streno and you's will all be fine. It's all in your own hands". With that he turned and walked away, back towards the tall apartment block, he could hear the noises of people behind him but he ignored it. He had done what he had come here to do, the tardis had brought him here for a reason and that was to help these people. As he walked up through the levels of the apartment building he wondered whether it had known what was happening here. But the tardis always did work in mysterious ways so he didn't worry about it for too long.

He finally walked into the room where he had left the tardis; it's tall robust shape standing resolute as it would for thousands of years if he left it here. He snapped his fingers and the door swung open, showing the inside. "It…It's bigger on the inside…." came a voice from behind him.

The Doctor turned round and saw Jackie looking in awe through the door of the tardis, "you followed me?" the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow at her.

It took a moment for Jackie to look away from the tardis and back at the Doctor, "yes" she said trying to readjust to the conversation, every now and then her eyes would dart back to the door of the tardis. "I want to go with you," she added firmly.

"Why?" asked the Doctor, "you've seen what part of my world looks like".

"I know!" Jackie exclaimed, "I want to see so much more. Wherever you're going I want you to take me with you".

"No" the Doctor replied. Jackie opened her mouth to talk but the Doctor cut across her quickly, "I used to travel with people, now I don't travel with anyone. Why do you suppose that is?". Jackie didn't reply, she could guess the worst. "No, I travel alone now" he finished in a low voice, turning back towards the tardis and walking inside.

"Doctor please" pleaded Jackie but the door was already shut and the groaning, grinding sound started. "Doctor!" she screamed as the tardis began to fade away, she ran to try and grab on but it was already gone. She leaned heavily against the wall, tears streaming down her face, falling onto the floor.

The Doctor leaned against the door of the tardis as it spun on through the time vortex, it wasn't fair. He had to decide whether he travelled alone or didn't, these people demanded to get brought along and he would have to be responsible for them. No matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to control all of their actions, they would get into trouble and he would have to be accountable. It simply easier to travel alone, no people, no distractions just him and what the universe lay in front of him.


End file.
